


This Empty House

by DryadGurrl



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Implied Character Death, M/M, Off-screen Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-27
Updated: 2013-02-27
Packaged: 2017-12-03 18:32:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DryadGurrl/pseuds/DryadGurrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 things Arthur doesn’t miss about Eames, and one he does</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Empty House

1  
He definitely wouldn‘t miss the singing in the shower, that never-quite-on-key caterwauling that on the few times Eames was actually awake first was enough to jolt Arthur out of even the deepest sleep. The same noise that if he was already awake, and he usually was, was enough to make him glad that the nearest neighbors were elderly and didn‘t hear all that well.  
But then… hadn‘t Eames always made it up to him? Soothing him back to sleep if he‘d been woken and making sure the coffee was ready if he was already up?

2   
He wasn‘t going to miss the man‘s apparent oral fixation, the one that led to near-constant snacking, or gnawing on a pen cap while working, or gum snapping, which was _really_ the worst.  
But on the other hand… He‘d used it to his advantage more than once, and he‘d never minded it all that much when it was his fingers in Eames‘ mouth, or when that selfsame mouth was sucking a stinging mark on the inside of his wrist or the bend of his elbow.

3  
The pet names were something he certainly wasn’t going to miss. Granted, Eames called him by name at least as often as he called him ’pet’ or ’darling’ or in one memorable case ’turtledove’, but the pet names were always at the worst possible moment, and always there to undermine his authority.  
But… Eames had never undermined him when it was actually _important_ and sometimes, just sometimes, sprawled together in the dark in a loose tangle of limbs, that rough-edged ’darling’ felt more natural and more true than his own name.

4  
He wasn’t going to miss how much space Eames took up, all broad shoulders and expansive gestures. He wasn’t’ going to miss how Eames was always, somehow, overflowing his own personal space and into Arthur’s.  
But sometimes… Arthur hadn’t minded it, usually after a mission that hadn’t been as easy as expected, or one that had, on the rare occasion, gone horribly wrong. Those few times he was actually glad to have Eames there to pull him out of his tight spiral of ‘where I went wrong’ thoughts.

5  
He wouldn’t miss how warm Eames was, both in temperament and temperature. Eames had a habit of treating everyone as if they were an old friend, even, and sometimes especially, when they were an old enemy. It had always bothered him that Eames could be that jovial with anyone and everyone who crossed his path.  
He probably wouldn’t miss the warm temperature as much, after all, Eames had been better than an electric blanket on cold Chicago evenings.

+1  
In the end, Arthur realized that the only thing he was going to miss about Eames, was _Eames_.

**Author's Note:**

> This was from the way-back Inception Kinkmeme on LJ, and initially posted there.


End file.
